1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of electric grid management and pertains particularly to methods and apparatus for reducing power requirements and network costs associated with detecting and reporting power theft on a micro power grid.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of electric grid management, it is desired to reduce or eliminate the theft of power from a power grid. Theft of electricity from the power grid is more prevalent in developing countries like India for example where power theft losses amount to roughly one and one-half percent of gross domestic product (GDP). A micro power grid is a networked topology of intelligent processing nodes capable of collecting and processing information and of reporting collected information from node to node and eventually to a control facility via wireless communications.
The process of detecting power theft events that are not transmission losses due to natural events or other unexplained losses in power involves the collection and processing of power usage data on the grid and at least one algorithm for isolating the power theft current data from other available data relative to power usage.
A power theft detection algorithm known to the inventor is used to determine and isolate power theft data from other data on a micro grid. One challenge in power theft detection on a micro grid is that monitoring grid state and reporting power thefts via a plurality of intelligent processing nodes raises cost of communications for the particular network or topology of those distributed nodes on the grid.
Another challenge with sustaining power theft detection and reporting on the grid is that the components of the wireless communications network are typically distributed in overlay fashion over the power grid topology and also draw their power from the grid. Therefore, having these components always in an on state or requiring those components to stay on for longer “wake” periods to handle communications load can lead to sustainability issues regarding available energy on the grid. Furthermore, handling often piggybacked multi-hop data messages creates more network latency on the administrative portion of the grid and can result in bill processing delays.
Therefore, what is clearly needed is an apparatus that reduces power requirements and network costs associated with detecting and reporting power theft on a micro power grid.